Hi all,
Hope you don't mind me posting this here. I'm oin a bit of a quandary. I'm upgrading my tent this year to one I can stand up in! There are two very similar tents in Argos - one is normal fibreglass poles, while the other is a wee bit dearer, not quite as nice a layout, less of a hydrostatic head, but....it's inflatable! So inflatable arches instead of fibreglass poles - sounds like a no-brainer for a "loner" in terms of simplicity in erection putting up, but I like the look and layout of the "conventional" one a bit better.
So my question is, does anyone have experience of the inflatable type, and are they really that much simpler to deal with, or do they come with their own problems? Could a "pole" get punctured or leak and go floppy? Do they take up twice as much energy trying to get the back in the bag? etc...
The very good price (€110/120) only stands till Thursday and i presume it can only go in one direction, so I want to buy tomorrow night, hence the "urgent" bit in the title. Any experienced advice will be much appreciated
Are we there yet?
Stephen
We bought an inflatable tent (Vango 4-person) a few years back and loved it. At 2018 Cropredy Mike was recovering from pneumonia so I had to
erect put it up by myself, and it was relatively easy. Just don't over-inflate the tubes! You can always add a bit more air once you've pegged it out. It is highly unlikely you will puncture the tubes, unless you go at it with a knife or similar sharp object. We're notorious for breaking things and we had no problems. You should be able to deflate using the pump backwards which makes it easier to get it back in the bag, but that's probably the hardest bit. If you recall Cropredy 2019 (the last time we used it) the weather was so bad we just deflated it, chucked it in the car and sorted it when we got home.
We've never had a pole tent so can't compare it, sorry. My only advise would be you'll spend more time in the tent than you will putting it up so go for what will be the most comfortable. Enjoy Cropredy!
